....we'll say: "Tomato? Oh yes we have tomatoes!"
Get ready for what will probably be the biggest unloading of our tomato varieties on you (our CSA members) this season....with the caveat of "who knows, maybe next week we'll have even more tomatoes!" Our vines are fruiting like crazy....it could happen!
CSA this week:
- Garlic
- Onions
- Kale
- Zucchini
- Yellow Zephyr Summer Squash
- Patty Pan Summer Squash
- Potatoes
- Tomatoes (a LOT!)
- Leeks
- Eggplant
- Sweet Peppers
- Hot Peppers
- Basil
- Carrots
And we thought last week was the peak of the season.
Fresh this week will be basil, brought to you in a neat little bunch. Yes, finally you can make your winter pesto! We have planted a basil crop this year, but it has been somewhat scarce on the land to make room for other things (haha, like tomatoes, for example). And we have carrots (yes, they are back)! We've been selling them at farmer's market and have received a lot of feedback that they are pretty darn good, some of the best tasting carrots around! We'll have to thank our carrot-farming specialist, Forrest Kelly, for his good work.
In Echollective farm news, we have been hard at work flipping the farm over into Fall mode, while maintaining the last of our summer crops as they reach the peak of production. Kale has been consistently plentiful, beautiful, and healthy throughout the hot months; our squashes are still going proverbially crazy (we pull upwards of 50 pounds of squash in from the fields per day); and if you haven't seen them at the New Pioneer Co-ops yet, our leeks are HUGE. We are so proud of our leek yield this year: it took much care, watering, and thinning of smaller leeks out of the field to give these monsters the room to be the glorious gods amongst vegetables that they are.
But with Fall nearing, it's time to think about cooler-weather crops, which begins with getting the fields prepped and ready before anything can even grow. As we head into the less-hot months of the season, we are doing a clever tilling method called "stale bedding." No, it's not a passive way of making your bed in the morning so it at least looks good from the hallway.....stale-bedding is a protracted, useful extra step to tilling many beds and procuring them in a way that yields as little weeds as possible! How does this work? (And this could be useful to you in your own garden or yard, so listen up!) Well, first you till your desired plot until it is just bare soil. Then, you water it. Water it real, real good. In time, all the weed seeds on the top soil that you so dread...they will begin to germinate, their seeds will just crack open a little bit as they are watered. Can you guess what you do next? You till the bed again! Or dig or fork it, whichever method you choose, just as long as those seeds are broken up and reburied once more. The sprouting seeds are killed instantly by being pulled back under the earth, or at least a very big chunk of them are. And what do you know....you're having to deal with a lot less weeds in the coming weeks!
So, we are currently watering around 1 to 2 acres with the intent of stale bedding and getting ready for our upcoming crops. What is there to look forward to? Well, all sorts of cool leafy greens! Our daikon radishes are already sprouting out in the field as we speak. Before you know it, we'll have a lot on the way, ready for Fall....speaking of which, keep your eyes and ears open for our upcoming Fall 2013 CSA. Details on the way soon!
Now, all we need is the rain we had earlier in the Spring! All the crops we tend to grow in the Spring will be reappearing for Fall and the drenching was more than welcome. The past few weeks have been the typical dryness expected of the summer, and we have had to do a lot of the watering of our crops ourselves.
With that said, we hope you're looking forward to your biggest CSA share so far this season. Enjoy, and we'll see you at market!
Recipes
Watermelon-Peach Salsa and Tomatoes (www.myrecipes.com)
Ingredients
-
1/2 cup
hot pepper jelly
-
1 tablespoon
lime zest
-
1/4 cup
fresh lime juice
-
2 cups
seeded and diced fresh watermelon
$
-
1 cup
peeled and diced fresh peaches
$
-
1/3 cup
chopped fresh basil
-
1/3 cup
chopped fresh chives
-
3 cups
baby heirloom tomatoes, halved
-
Salt and freshly ground pepper
-
Garnish: fresh basil sprigs
Preparation
- Whisk together pepper jelly, lime zest, and lime juice in a bowl; stir in watermelon and next 3 ingredients.
- Season halved baby tomatoes with salt and freshly ground pepper
to taste; spoon into cocktail glasses. Top with salsa. Garnish, if
desired.
Basil Gelato (www.saveur.com)
MAKES 1 QUART
Ingredients
- 2 cups basil leaves
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp. lemon zest
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 6 egg yolks
Instructions
Combine
basil, milk, cream, sugar, zest, salt, and yolks in a blender and puree
until smooth. Pour into a 2-qt. saucepan and heat gently until sugar
dissolves. Remove from heat and pour through a fine strainer; chill in
the refrigerator. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to
manufacturer's instructions. Serve garnished with fresh basil leaves.
Fresh Cucumber Carrot Salad (www.foodnetwork.com)
Ingredients
- 2 small or 1 large cucumber, peeled and seeded
- 2 carrots, grated
- 1 small or 1/2 large shallot, chopped
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Sriracha
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Halve and thinly slice the cucumber. Then place into a medium bowl
with the grated carrots and shallots. In a small bowl, mix together the
vinegar, Sriracha and soy sauce. Toss with the vegetables and season
with salt and pepper only if needed. Serve.
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Please tell us if you can't identify something on the market table,
don't know what to do with a particular item, have a food allergy we
should know about, or if you have other questions or comments. We love
to hear from you!
The heat is on! And with the heat of July comes many delightful things.
The first cicadas have been heard buzzing at the crowns of the treetops, a sound so synonymous in my mind with the heat and humidity of a Midwestern summer that I simply can't separate the two. The days have finally become arduous and sweaty, where a good shower at the end of the day is in order. Squashes are simply popping off the vines, zucchinis and yellow zephyrs are in big supply and are on their way to the CSA table. You may also buy them from us at market!
The sun's rays have ripened this year's first sun gold tomatoes (not quite ready for CSA yet, though!) which we picked on Sunday; just a small helping so far but tasty and golden-orange, so hard to resist. Peppers and eggplants are forming their first pre-ripe green fruits. The borders of our woods are lush with black raspberries.
The roadsides and our herb garden are alive with color as a whole new wave of flowers have bloomed....echinacea, yellow coneflower, cup-plant, marshmallows, yarrow, valerian, bee balms and sweet leaf, tiger lilies, bright yellow mullein, and more...and what with all the flowers opening and pollen flying through the air, almost everyone is struggling with sudden summer head colds and allergies! So stay healthy, stock up on Vitamin-C, eat plenty of local honey to boost your immune system, and see if you can't find any nettle seeds out there in the wilds of your backyard, or a neighborhood park, etc... A strong tea can make you forget your allergies ever plagued you....
.....and eat some delightful organic veggies!
What to look forward to this week:
- Garlic Scapes
- Leeks
- Green Onions
- Candy (white) Onions
- Collard Greens
- Bunch Mixed Kales (Winterbor, Redbor, Red Russian)
- Carrots
- Squash (zucchini or yellow zephyr summer squash)
- Potatoes
...and more! It'll be a surprise.
This week is a big showcasing to all you CSA members for our alliums! Alliums are what we call a group of veggies that consist of garlic, onions, leeks, shallots, etc.; you know, the stinky and pungent bulbs that you chop up so small and throw into a delicious dish knowing that it just wouldn't taste the same without them. Alliums are actually in the same family as lilies, grouped together in the big family Liliaceae. They are super good for you, boasting great amounts of magnesium which is integral to your health, and also contain antioxidants and other chemical aspects that provide a great boost to your immune system! (There you go...a help with your summer allergies right there!)
We know....how do you make a dish for dinner that somehow involves leeks, garlic scapes, and onions together? Too stinky. Don't do it. Well, we suggest you just stock up! Alliums store for longer periods of time (if stored correctly; keep your green onions, garlic scapes, and leeks in the fridge!) so you can hold onto these vegetables for use in a week or so. That's the great thing about them! We have plenty of scapes, onions, and leeks that you will probably receive some next week! But no worries. We will also provide a couple recipes that use alliums specifically as the main focus, turning your alliums into an awesome part of your dining experience. Alliums don't just have to be something to throw into your stir-fry or your burrito anymore!
We are proud to have pulled up our first harvest of carrots today! Yes, they made it this year! Last summer was much too dry for them to flourish, but this summer has been the immense amount of wet that they love; their orange roots swell and grow deliciously sweet. Did you know?: carrots were not originally orange! The native wild carrot has a long white taproot, and other species had purple or scarlet roots. It wasn't until a few hundred years ago, the Dutch got together and thought orange carrots should be the norm, and started breeding and growing them. Now we're all eating orange carrots and think that that's normal, thanks to the Dutch.
Well, it looks like you'll be kept quite busy for the next week with so many veggies...and so much to learn about them. We'll see you at market!
Recipes
A big thank you to CSA Member Naomi Hertsberg for sending us the following two recipes! They are a smart rhapsody of recipes with Echollective ingredients. The original recipes you can find online, but these new versions have been a huge hit with her friends....so try them!
Kale Market Salad (inspired by www.101cookbooks.com recipe of same name)
Garlic Scape Dressing:
- Garlic scapes, rinsed and chopped (~1/4 cup)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, plus more to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/3 cup / 80 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons ripe avocado
- 1 teaspoon honey, or to taste
Salad:
- fresh pepper to taste
- 1/2 bunch kale, destemmed, torn into pieces
- 1 cup / 5.5 oz cooked farro or wheat berries (semi-pearled or whole)
- 4-5 farmers' market carrots, very thinly sliced
- 1 small bulb of fennel, transparently sliced
- 1 avocado, cut into small cubes
- a big handful of almond slices, toasted
Make the dressing by using a hand blender or food processor to puree
the scapes, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, avocado, honey, and
pepper until smooth. Taste, and adjust with more salt, or honey, or
lemon juice.
Before you're ready to serve, combine the kale with about half of the
dressing in a large bowl use your hands to work the dressing into the
kale, softening up the kale a bit in the process. Add the farro,
carrots, and fennel, more dressing, and a couple pinches of salt, and
toss again. Taste, and add the last of the dressing if needed. This is a
salad I like quite heavily dressed. Add the avocados and almonds and
give one last gentle toss.
Serves 2-4.
Prep time: 10 min
Collard Green Olive Pesto (inspired by www.epicurious.com)
Preparation
Bring a 6- to 8-quart pot of
salted water
to a boil. Meanwhile, cut stems and center ribs from collard greens and
discard. Stir collards into water in batches, then simmer, uncovered,
stirring occasionally, until tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer collards
with tongs to a colander to drain, gently pressing on greens to extract
excess water. (If making pasta, reserve water in pot for cooking
pasta.) Coarsely chop collards.
Blend olives and garlic in a food processor until finely
chopped. Add collards, water, vinegar, salt, cayenne, and pepper and
pulse until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil in a slow
stream. Turn off motor, then add cheese and pulse to combine.
This recipe makes a large quantity of pesto. Use half the pesto for 1
pound of cooked pasta and chill the rest in an airtight container for up
to 3 days.
Stuffed Leeks (foodcocktail.com)
- Prep: 20 mins
- Cook: 50 mins
- Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
Ingredients
Instructions
- Separate the green part of the leek , where the leaves are, and keep it for the sauce.
- Cut the white part of the leek in 2.5-3 inches pieces.
- With your fingers push the inside of the tubes out, keeping only two layers, so that the tubes won't be so fragile and break.
- Chop the inside of the tubes very finely.
- Mix the chopped leek with the meat, the egg and the spices.
- Feel the tubes with the meat mixture and arrange them in a baking dish.
- Chop the green part of the leek that you've kept and cook it for about 2 minutes in one tablespoon of vegetable oil, preheated.
- Add
the tomato juice, some salt and maybe some sugar if you think it's too
acid. Let it cook for 3-4 minutes and then, pour the sauce over stuffed
leek tubes.
- Let it cook for 40 minutes covered, and then let it cook for another 10-15 minutes uncovered. Serve!
**********************
Please tell us if you can't identify something on the market table,
don't know what to do with a particular item, have a food allergy we
should know about, or if you have other questions or comments. We love
to hear from you!
